Flamingo Revolution
Week of June 19-25, 2026
Published in conjunction with The Nation magazine, TRACKING THE CRISIS is a weekly round-up from The Democracy Collaborative tracking the administrative, legislative, and other actions of the Trump Administration as well as the many forms of legal and movement response from across a broad range of social, political, and economic actors. TDC is providing this service for collective informational purposes, as a tool for understanding the times during a period of disorientingly rapid flux and change in the U.S. political economy. This round-up is produced by humans, not by Artificial Intelligence. TDC should not be understood as endorsing or otherwise any of the specific content of the information round-up.
TRUMP TRACKER: Administration actions
Iran-U.S. MoU survives rocky first days despite threats from Trump; IDF slows attacks but refuses to leave Lebanon, keeping talks in jeopardy; Senate flip-flops on War Powers. Talks between the United States and Iran under the new Memorandum of Understanding digitally signed last Wednesday appeared to be on the rocks Friday as Iran warned that Israel’s continued aggression in Lebanon showed a “failure to commit to the first clause” of the MoU and JD Vance abruptly cancelled his trip to Geneva as the plane waited on the tarmac. On the same day, the Washington Post reported that U.S. intelligence agencies warned the Trump Administration that Netanyahu will continue to take steps to undermine the peace deal with Iran, motivated by the political pressure he faces within Israel to continue the campaign against Hezbollah. Israeli national security minister Ben-Gvir posted on social media Friday that “all of Lebanon must burn” in retaliation for four Israeli soldiers killed in what the IDF itself characterized as Hezbollah’s ‘defensive battle’ against the Israeli offensive in the occupied zone. Ben-Gvir’s comment prompted international condemnation and a direct response from Iranian foreign minister Araghchi, who called Israeli leadership a “genocidal death cult” whose “only interest is permanent war.”
Trump made a ‘rare trip’ to Camp David over the weekend for what the White House called ‘policy and political meetings’ as Iran announced that they would close the Strait of Hormuz once again due to continued Israeli violations of the ceasefire agreement. Qatari and Pakistani mediators worked continuously behind the scenes – with help from China and other regional powers – to salvage the talks. The parties finally met in Switzerland on Sunday to begin negotiations, which were nearly scuppered again as Trump unleashed a barrage of threats against Iran on Truth Social, including threatening to assassinate negotiators and “take over” the country, prompting Iranian negotiators to walk out of the talks after just 80 minutes. Despite the tension and initial setback, high-level negotiations continued throughout the night. The Guardian reported Sunday was the quietest day Lebanon had seen in quite some time, with no major strikes reported as Lebanese residents began returning to their homes.
Negotiators re-emerged early Monday as Qatar and Pakistan issued a joint statement announcing that agreement had been reached on a “roadmap” towards a final peace deal within 60 days. Pakistani PM Sharif praised the Iranian delegation’s “cool-headedness, dignity and attempts at de-escalation” in the face of Trump’s threats, saying Iranian leadership “genuinely mean to promote peace in the region.” Araghchi announced on social media that Iran had secured sanctions waivers on oil and petrochemical exports, the release of some frozen assets and the launch of a reconstruction and development plan for Iran, and thanked the “tireless” Pakistani and Qatari mediators for delivering “major progress” to end the war. JD Vance, speaking to reporters on Monday, said that despite Trump’s threats, the president asked them to “turn over a new leaf” to “transform” the U.S. relationship with Iran, and said the talks laid a “very good foundation for a successful final deal.”
Key to the initial agreement was the establishment of a “deconfliction cell” regarding Lebanon, in which the United States, Iran, and Lebanon would work together, facilitated by the mediating countries, to “ensure the adherence” of an end to military operations in Lebanon. Analyst Trita Parsi notes the significance of Iran’s direct inclusion for the first time in ensuring an end to hostilities in Lebanon, as well as Israel’s exclusion from deconfliction efforts. Araghchi called the deconfliction mechanism the “first real test” of the peace deal. Vance and Rubio held a call with Lebanese president Aoun on Tuesday, which the president’s office said addressed “ways to consolidate the ceasefire” in Lebanon and de-escalate Israeli attacks. Israeli defense minister Katz issued a defiant statement on Saturday, saying Israel has no intention of withdrawing from its security zone in Lebanon, and reiterated on Thursday that Israel will not withdraw ‘even if the U.S. demands it.’
Although most substantive discussions on Iran’s nuclear program have been deferred to later phases of the negotiations, conflicting accounts emerged regarding whether and/or when the IAEA will resume inspections of its nuclear program and enriched uranium stockpile as per the MoU. Trump and Vance announced early in the week that Iran had agreed to let IAEA inspectors into the country, with Trump saying Iran had “completely agreed” to the ‘highest level nuclear inspections,’ while Iran denied it had reached agreement on that point, saying that there were “no detailed discussions on the nuclear issue” in Switzerland and that a final deal must be reached before IAEA inspections are resumed. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi expressed confidence that inspections would resume ‘eventually,’ but that the timing was “not essential.”
Conflicting statements also emerged from the two sides around the negotiated release of $12 billion in frozen Iranian assets, with Vance and Bessent saying that the assets will only be used to purchase U.S. goods such as food and medicine for humanitarian relief under a program supervised by Qatar, while Iran’s ambassador to the UN, Ali Bahreini, said that “Iran is the only country that will decide what to do with its assets, which will be unfrozen.” Marco Rubio also claimed Tuesday that Iran’s ballistic missile program would be a key point in later stages of the talks, prompting a retort from Pezeshkian, who insisted Iran’s right to ballistic missiles will ‘never’ be included in the deal, saying “without them, we’d be Gaza.” Pakistani PM Sharif echoed Pezeshkian’s remarks, noting that the ballistic missile program was not part of the Islamabad MoU.
The Strait of Hormuz continues to be a thorny issue for U.S.-Iran negotiations as traffic slowly resumed through the Strait as talks concluded in Switzerland. Marco Rubio continued to insist that the Strait would remain a ‘toll-free’ international waterway and would return to pre-war status, while Ghalibaf asserted that Iran would retain control over the Strait in coordination with Oman and other littoral states, per clause 5 of the MoU. Iran and Oman began official talks on the future administration of navigation and maritime services in the Strait on Tuesday, issuing a joint statement affirming "their sovereignty and sovereign rights over their territorial waters in the Strait of Hormuz." The statement also mentioned conversations on "services that will be provided in this regard and the costs associated with them in accordance with international standards," contradicting Rubio’s statements that “no country” can charge tolls or fees, warning that the precedent would ‘spread like contagion’ to other strategically important waterways and lead to global chaos.
Passage through the Strait remains precarious due to Iranian mines in the central zone’s traditional shipping lanes, with insurers still wary due to continuing tensions over the waterway amid more conflicting messages from the United States and Iran. Over the weekend, Lloyd’s of London and Chubb, the world’s largest maritime insurers, announced a new $400 million market consortium to provide additional war-risk capacity for vessels and cargo transiting the Strait of Hormuz. On Wednesday, the UN announced a new program to evacuate the backlog of approximately 500-600 ships and 11,000 sailors that have been stuck in the Persian Gulf since March, coordinating with Oman, which announced the opening of two temporary routes through the southern portion of the Strait.
Oil prices dropped below $75 for the first time since the Iran war began as U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright claimed on Thursday that 72 ships holding 20 million barrels of oil crossed the Strait under the UN evacuation scheme, claiming that flows were “fully” back to pre-war levels (which, according to shipping data, was actually about double the amount of vessels that passed the Strait on Wednesday). He also triumphantly claimed that U.S. military presence and the new Oman routes have effectively “ended Iran’s ability to close” the Strait of Hormuz, even though the nearly two-month U.S. ‘blockade’ had previously failed to do so. The IRGC warned on Thursday that any crossing of the Strait without Iranian authorization was “unacceptable and extremely dangerous,” and threatened that any ships crossing without authorization “will be dealt with.” Even though ships are passing through the Oman route despite Iranian threats, the geography of the route itself contains navigational risks as the rocky coast increases the chances of running aground.
On Wednesday morning, the Senate voted 50-48 to approve the War Powers ‘concurrent resolution’ that passed the House last month directing Trump to end all military operations against Iran, as four Republicans again broke with the party line to vote for the resolution. Hours later, Trump berated Senate Republicans for the vote at a GOP luncheon after posting on Truth Social that the wayward Republicans “made my job more difficult.” According to reports, Trump clashed with Sen. Bill Cassidy over the issue at the luncheon, devolving into a shouting match as Trump taunted Cassidy over his election loss and called him a “lunatic.” In an unprecedented move, the Senate folded to Trump and re-convened late Wednesday to vote on a new War Powers resolution as Cassidy reversed his vote under pressure and Rand Paul voted ‘present’ in order “to give the President more space and leverage to negotiate a lasting peace.” The measure failed 47-50-1, though the original passage of the House-approved measure remained intact; both resolutions are largely symbolic, although it has the potential to open up legal challenges to Trump’s continued prosecution of the war.
Elon Musk’s brief reign as trillionaire ends as SpaceX crash leads global tech rout, wiping $3 trillion off stock markets; central banks dump dollars to hoard gold as China launches direct challenge to the petrodollar. Just ten days after SpaceX debuted the largest IPO in history, climbing to a peak valuation of $2.6 trillion and making Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, the stock crashed this week nearly as quickly as it rose, dropping over 32% over a period of three days and briefly dipping below its debut price, wiping nearly $600 billion off of the company’s market cap. As of Wednesday afternoon, Musk’s fortune sank to around the $900 billion mark as the stock price settled to just under 10% over its initial public offering price. While Musk remains the world’s richest man, average investors and initial buyers of Space X’s public stocks were left in the red as the crash wiped out nearly all gains from the last two weeks.
The sell-off was sparked by a report Monday that despite raising $85 billion from its IPO in the first few days of trading, SpaceX was floating a $20 billion bond sale to refinance the company’s debts, mainly stemming from its acquisition of X, which has lost 79% of its market value since Musk took over the platform in 2022, and xAI, which was merged with SpaceX after “falling far behind” other U.S. AI companies in the generative AI race. LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman called xAI a “complete train wreck” in the tradition of Musk’s other failed ventures, noting that as of May, all 11 of xAI’s co-founders have left the company as it attempted its third restart; and described SpaceX’s AI strategy as Musk “buying [his] way into relevance.” Moody’s and Fitch graded SpaceX’s debt as Baa1 and BBB+ status respectively, just three notches above junk status, while S&P Global Ratings valued it at BBB, one notch lower. Financial analysts at SeekingAlpha predict SpaceX stock could plunge by as much as 50% by 2027, which could compel Musk to merge SpaceX with Tesla, which remains profitable as its EV products saw increased demand in Europe amid the global oil shock.
Just before the IPO, former Tesla investor Steve Westly warned that SpaceX’s historic valuation rested on three separate ‘moonshots,’ at least two of which needed to be ‘successful’ in order to justify its current value. Among those ‘moonshots’ is Musk’s ambitious plans for AI infrastructure, including a data center cluster in space, with little assurance of actual returns on investment in the near term – a worry that has hung over the entire AI industry for over a year as capex explodes, data center construction slows and fears of overproduction, mounting debt, and lackluster consumer demand provide fewer and fewer feasible pathways to profitability.
The SpaceX crash occurred amid a wider global sell-off of tech stocks that sent exchanges from Wall Street to Asian markets into freefall as $3 trillion in value was wiped out, driven by investor fears over the AI bubble as Morgan Stanley forecast a record $500 billion in borrowing for 2026 and an anticipated Fed rate hike as the global energy shock, even with the opening of the Strait of Hormuz, looks set to drive inflation for quite some time. U.S. Treasury yields hit a 13-month high as investors fled tech stocks for liquid cash and the traditional safe haven of the bond market. Even gold and silver failed to provide solid ground for investors, tumbling 30% and 50% respectively as the massive wave of ETF-driven speculative capital that has fueled precious metals’ historic rally finally washed out as the dollar surged and inflation rates effectively priced out any chance of interest rate cuts for the rest of 2026. Analysts note that having made major gains from historic market rallies over the past year, investors were now cashing out of all manner of assets – tech stocks, gold, silver, crypto, and equities – that have seen booming price gains amid doubts that the market could go much higher before crashing, triggering crashes in all asset classes simultaneously.
Investment website TipRanks speculates that a major factor in gold’s recent volatility was increased central bank hoarding of gold assets, noting that a record 45% of central banks planned to add gold to their holdings, the highest percentage ever recorded in the World Gold Council’s annual survey of central bank gold reserves. A whopping 89% of central banks expected gold holdings to continue rising, while 74% planned to reduce U.S. dollar holdings over the next year. While central banks only reported buying 16 tons of gold last year, the WGC, which also tracks the metal itself through refineries and supply chains, said that 244 tons of gold actually ended up in central bank holdings over the past year, over fifteen times the number officially reported. Industry specialists say that central banks have been quietly increasing gold holdings to prepare for “a less dollar-centered future” as governments diversify to hedge against the weakening power of the petrodollar amidst geopolitical uncertainties triggered by the Iran war.
In a post for the Bulwark this week, Jonathan Last reported that China is preparing to launch a new international payments system called mBridge in a direct challenge to the petrodollar system. A cutting-edge digital platform that enables instant cross-border transfers at a very low cost, mBridge allows sovereign states to directly buy oil from producing countries and circumvent the dollar-denominated SWIFT system entirely. Several BRICS and BRICS+ countries are already trading on the platform, notably Saudi Arabia, which became an early adopter of the platform in 2024.
Trump’s interim ODNI director Bill Pulte initiates mass layoff, sparking bipartisan outrage and fears that Trump is reshaping intelligence to serve darker purposes, as AI-driven surveillance technology is used to criminalize anti-ICE activists. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), created through the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, oversees 18 US intelligence agencies, including the CIA, DIA, and NSA. Trump’s long-term pick for Pulte’s position is Jay Clayton, a U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York who is much more favored for the role overall. Congress tried to rush through Clayton’s confirmation, but Trump blocked proceedings, ordering Republicans to hold back on the nomination until Clayton has been successfully replaced in his current role. Critics speculate that the move may suggest a shift in the nature of the position from a presidential advisory role to serving a more political function, given Pulte’s record as Trump’s bulldog in his role as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Pulte came out of the gate running, as he reportedly directed ODNI staff the night before his official first day to assemble a list of candidates to be fired from the agency. The first round of cuts began Monday, with at least 6 people fired and around 45 others returned to their home agencies. According to insiders, Pulte is continuing Gabbard’s mission of making massive cuts to the agency – she claimed to have fired around 500 people, or 30% of the agency’s workforce – by first targeting Gabbard’s perceived loyalists, with some purporting that the move is in part retribution for prior leaks to media about Pulte’s purge plans.
A bipartisan uproar broke out within Congress in the wake of the firings, with both sides citing Pulte’s inexperience as the primary complaint. Outbound Republican senator Thom Tillis told reporters, “My guess is based on his past experience, it’s going to be another hot, steaming pile of Doge shit. I think he’s an incompetent sycophant and not the right person to lead DNI, and you’re undermining ultimately what the confirmed administrator should be doing.” Representative James Himes and Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees, respectively, sent a letter to Pulte protesting the cuts’ possible impact on national security, saying, “Any large cuts would follow on a substantial downsizing that has already occurred in 2025 and risk jeopardizing the mission of an organization explicitly created after 9/11 to prevent any future such terrorist attack.”
As Trump and Congress joust over the direction of the U.S. intelligence apparatus with regards to the ODNI, concerns mount over the cybersecurity issues posed by rapid integration of new AI-based technologies. The Five Eyes intelligence grouping, comprising the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand, recently issued a joint statement warning that AI-based cyberattacks capable of overwhelming government defenses are ‘months, not years away,’ urging government and corporate leaders to “act now” to prepare for these threats. Trump’s second term has been marked by close partnerships with AI defense companies like Palantir and Andruil, as well as a will they/won’t they relationship with Anthropic, creator of the Mythos and Fable AI models that have sparked furor after Anthropic announced them to be extremely adept at finding cybersecurity flaws.
While both domestic governmental agencies and large private entities race to integrate AI-based surveillance into all aspects of daily life, the impacts of their security flaws reverberate into the lives of average people. Tech activists like Benn Jordan and outlets like 404 Media have already demonstrated the ease with which Flock cameras in public places can be hacked. Last week, a hacker group known as ShinyHunters published a slew of data stolen from Madison Square Garden that included customers’ personal information, stating on their website that “It’s very simple. When you pay us, your data is deleted, and you move on with your life. When you don’t pay us, you get posted here, among other things.” The venue has long been criticized for its use of facial recognition technologies, and a 2025 lawsuit by a former MSG employee revealed that MSG owner James Dolan’s security apparatus extends far beyond simply identifying who is attending events; a Wired report found that security teams would obsessively track certain individuals down to the second when they were on site, sometimes for years. A 404 Media report this week found through the ShinyHunters data breach that Dolan, a close friend of Donald Trump, maintained dossiers on individuals who criticized MSG’s use of facial recognition technologies, including director of digital rights group Fight for the Future Evan Greer and the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Adam Schwartz, both of whom were quoted in major media articles discussing surveillance at MSG.
Against this backdrop of privacy and security concerns, government agencies are ramping up the use of these new technologies to track protesters and immigrants. A report released this week analyzing ICE and CBP contracts found that money awarded to surveillance tech firms leapt from under $200 million in 2024 to a record-breaking $513 million in 2026, dominated by huge contracts with Palantir and Andruil. The Guardian reports that the contracts include money for “data brokers, analytics software, social media scrapers, facial recognition technologies, hacking devices and spyware to break into phones, external contractors that the study’s authors characterize as “bounty hunters” and “autonomous” border towers and drones.”
DHS has publicly disclosed that it uses more than 10 different AI-enabled facial recognition tools, with questions of consent and warrants remaining murky. The agencies have utilized programs like Berla iVe to extract data from devices people connect from their cars, partnered with Equifax to obtain records, and utilized software from Israeli firm Cellebrite to extract data from the phones of arrested protesters. The true extent of the government’s usage of these technologies remains obscured, but so far they have been utilized to build federal conspiracy cases against anti-ICE protesters, even as organizations like the ACLU say warrantless use of these technologies violates constitutional rights.
MOVEMENT TRACKER
“The Mamdani Sweep”: Democratic socialist candidates backed by Zohran Mamdani sweep New York primaries, indicating a potential ‘seismic shift’ towards the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. New York’s closely watched primary elections flipped the table on the Democratic party establishment this week, with three Mamdani-backed, DSA-adjacent candidates sweeping their House races against incumbents and mainstream picks, while Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez secured 87% of her race’s vote against two challengers. Recent State Assemblymember Claire Valdez took the state’s 7th district with 56% of the vote, overcoming opponent Antonio Reynoso’s endorsements from retiring congresswoman Nydia Velázquez, several major unions, and the Working Families Party. Former NYC comptroller and mayoral candidate Brad Lander dominated the vote with 65% in the 10th district, handily ousting incumbent Dan Goldman. The biggest upset came through the 13th district, where CUNY doctoral student and political newcomer Darializa Avila Chevalier surged past incumbent and Congressional Hispanic Caucus chair Adriano Espaillat with 49% of the vote.
Many outlets have been quick to hail this as a “kingmaker” moment for Mamdani, and his influence is a reflection of his popularity. There is a more salient undertone to these races beyond the influence of one charismatic mayor: an increasing portion of Democratic voters want more democratic socialism, and less money for Israel regardless of establishment backing from the party. Chevalier and Valdez were platformed by the increasingly influential NY DSA, and Lander flanked Goldman from the left. Espaillat and Goldman are both proud Zionists who ran AIPAC-funded campaigns, while Lander and Chevalier are open opponents of U.S. support for Israel, and Valdez criticized Reynoso for being insufficiently pro-Palestine. Both women also weathered attacks against their relative inexperience in government and distance from the party line, as Chevalier in particular was met with racialized dissections of her Dominican heritage and mailers that highlighted a deleted tweet where she said “F**k Kamala Harris” – a jab that may well have bolstered her campaign as much as hindered it, based on its reception on social media.
Democratic socialist ideas are gaining popularity amongst the Democratic rank and file; a Gallup poll from last year showed that 66% of Democratic voters have a positive view of socialism. These trends have sparked fears of a shakeup in the party among its established leadership, who are accused of offering little but a return to the pre-Trump status quo. Politico painted the wins in alarmist terms: “left-wing insurgents” took a “massive sledge hammer” to the Democrat establishment, a “relentless march” that sent “shockwaves” as it ‘toppled’ normie picks; now progressives are “menacing” Schumer with this show of “firepower” as they ‘seize’ on voters’ anger. The article highlights a moment at Valdez’s election party where some present booed Hakeem Jeffries’s appearance on the television screen and chanted “you’re next.” AP echoed the establishment alarmism, as both outlets floated recondite comparisons between Mamdani and Trump – both men, after all, have influenced the direction of their respective parties after winning elections, a correlation that analysts find meaningful and telling beyond its political success at the ballot box.
Environmental protests over Jared Kushner-backed Albanian luxury resort unfold into national anti-corruption movement dubbed the “Flamingo Revolution.” Plans by Jared Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners to break ground on construction of a planned $6 billion resort development project in a protected coastal area in Albania sparked protests across the Balkan country which lasted for 21 consecutive days before culminating in a massive anti-government protest that brought over 250,000 protestors into the streets of the capital city of Tirana. Citizen protestors initially expressed concerns regarding the destruction of sensitive ecosystems while PM Edi Rama defended the development as a future source of jobs and investment. Many protesters have adopted the use of inflatable flamingos as a symbol for these environmental concerns, and as demonstrations have swelled to tens of thousands of participants as calls for Rama’s resignation have grown. Many Albanians are embracing the anti-corruption movement as their ‘Flamingo Revolution’.
Flamingos are just one of many wildlife species that would be impacted by the resort’s construction, as the resort is set cover an area that includes wetlands, marshes, and Albania’s only island, the uninhabited Sazan, a protected part of the delta of one of Europe’s last wild rivers. Conservation organization BirdLife International reports that the Pishë Poro-Narta Protected Area, part of the Vjosa-Narte Protected Landscape, shelters over 70 endangered species and more than 200 bird species, serving as a critical migration corridor and habitat for key marine species. Activists say that critical damage to the area, some of it irreversible, had already taken place due to construction by early June, including gravel being dumped onto ancient sand dunes designated as Natural Monuments under Albanian law, and a blockage in one of the openings connecting the Narta lagoon to the sea, causing immediate cascading disruptions across species as tidal exchange is cut off.
In response to these attacks on what environmental groups have called “Europe’s last wild coast,” the European Parliament adopted a resolution last week expressing serious concerns about continued development of the resort, calling for an “immediate moratorium on new permitting procedures, construction works and development interventions within protected areas until incompatible provisions of Albania’s amended Law on Protected Areas are repealed and full compliance with EU nature protection standards is ensured.”
Despite the resolution, both construction and protests have continued. The demonstrations’ aim of protecting a cherished part of Albania’s landscape has expanded into a national revolt against the indulgences of a “rotten oligarchic class,” seeking Rama’s ouster after he proclaimed that the resort would help transform the country into the Adriatic’s “most attractive high-end tourist destination.” Many protesters say that the movement goes well beyond the Kushner project at this point, with one telling reporters, “We’re Gen Z and we’re saying ‘enough is enough,’ our country isn’t for sale.”
After musical acts pull out, crowd walks out on Trump’s campaign-style speech to kick off America 250 celebration. Trump’s ‘Great American State Fair’ event celebrating the United States’ 250th anniversary continued its string of failures Wednesday as cameras captured hundreds of attendees walking out of the event during Trump’s keynote speech on the National Mall. Trump made himself the headliner, turning the planned music concert into a campaign-style rally, after several entertainment acts pulled out of the event over the past few weeks, including Young MC, Martina McBride, the Commodores, Bret Michaels, Milli Vanilli, and Morris Day and the Time. Many of the artists did not know they had been booked for the event until their appearances were announced on the Freedom 250 website, prompting at least three of the acts to cancel immediately, with another three dropping out a day later. At least six states refused to host exhibits at the Great American State Fair, which was supposed to be a showcase of all fifty states.
Late-night host Jimmy Fallon mocked the sparse crowd that showed up for the event, which Trump claimed on Thursday numbered over 45,000 people; estimates showed the actual attendance to be around 4,300 people. Flyovers of the B2 stealth bomber and fighter jets accompanied canned opera and classic rock as attendees milled around the National Mall, which had been ‘transformed’ for the event, according to CNN correspondent Donie O’Sullivan, with “fake pillars and fake gold American eagles” where state pavilions are being erected, as well as a miniature version of the president’s proposed “Arc de Trump.”
A reporter for In These Times noted that “To celebrate America, security fencing has been erected and entry is restricted to a couple of access points that are manned by heavily armed National Guard, Metro Police, Park Police, Capitol Police, U.S. Marshals, Secret Service, TSA, and anyone else capable of carrying a gun and doing seemingly nothing at all.” In an “incredibly awkward and cringeworthy moment,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins attempted to warm up the crowd before Trump’s appearance by starting a “USA” chant, which went over like a lead balloon; 80-year-old Trump later took the stage after being preceded by a performance from 83-year-old singer Lee Greenwood.
Trump launched into his campaign speech, which lasted for about 30 minutes and touted his own achievements, including the algae-laden reflecting pool, which he said “looks perfect.” As he spoke of the ‘booming’ economy and the ‘golden age’ of America, reporters observed throngs of attendees turning away and walking out of the event; a video, which was posted on X, quickly went viral as other photos appeared to show other attendees sleeping on the lawn. Near the end of his speech, Trump made an unexpected appeal to attendees to “please show up” to his Independence Day rally scheduled for July 4th, in what The Daily Beast called Trump’s “Jeb Bush” moment.
The 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States comes at a moment almost universally acknowledged to be politically fraught and divisive for many Americans. An AP-NORC poll released this week showed just 4 in 10 Americans feel “proud” of their country ahead of the 250th anniversary; and around 3 in 10 felt “excited.” According to a Gallup poll also released this week, just 19% of Americans feel that the signers of the Declaration of Independence would feel pleased by the way the United States has turned out, with 77% saying they would be disappointed; the most pessimistic reading that Gallup has recorded since it started asking the question in 1999.
